History Main / SameSurnameMeansRelated

** "All the Presidents' Heads" revolves around Professor Farnsworth being a descendant of David Farnsworth, a RealLife Loyalist double agent and counterfeiter during the Revolutionary War. Other historical Farnsworths said to be in his family tree include inventor Philo Farnsworth and naval commander Dean Farnsworth, developer of the Farnsworth Lantern Test.[[note]] Despite being a fictional character this would actually be true of the Professor. In fact, ''every'' human in Futurama save for Fry would be related to the listed historical men. This is due to how humans reproduce, over the span of a thousand years every successful breeding line would intermingle, meaning any family line that survived to the year 3000 would be related to everyone born before the year 2000. You can test for yourself: 2(parents)^(1000(years)/25(years per generation)) gives you almost 2 trillion parental pairs, more than 100x the total number of humans who've ever existed[[/note]]

** A team-up between Franchise/{{Superman}} and the Silent Knight had Clark taken aback by learning the Knight's real name was Brian Kent. The implication seemed to be that he ''must'' therefore be Pa Kent's ancestor.

** When she was introduced, Kate Kane, ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}, didn't appear to have any connection to the established Kanes in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mythos. Her ComicBook/New52 series established that Bette Kane, Flamebird, was her cousin, meaning she was also related to Kathy Kane (whose role as the original Batwoman had recently been reinserted into continuity). In ''ComicBook/BatmanZeroYear'', Bruce's Uncle Philip has portraits of Kate's family in his office, suggesting Martha Kane's maiden name isn't a coincidence either; subsequently she would explicitly call Bruce her cousin in ''ComicBook/DetectiveComicsRebirth''. (Of course, in RealLife, they're all named after Batman creator Bob Kane.)

* The ComicBook/DisneyComics originally introduced various characters by the name of "Duck" as unrelated to the main WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck -- just a case of SpeciesSurname gone wild. However, as time went on, characters like Moby Duck, or, yes, [[KissingCousins his own girlfriend Daisy Duck]], were retconned to be variously related cousins (not so much as a conscious decision as out of new writers assuming this trope was at play and that they always ''were'' meant to be related).

* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' introduces two women with the surname "Crowne" near the beginning. The narration notes that they're not related, it's just that society has simplified things by now only using a relatively small pool of names.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': when Frodo visits Bree, he introduces himself as "Mr. Underhill" to avoid giving the name "Baggins" (Sauron's forces are looking for Baggins). Humorously, he then meets an actual Underhill family of hobbits in Bree who immediately welcome him like a long-lost cousin, despite his insistence that they're not related.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'' has attorney Calisto Yew, who has the same surname as the victim of a murder. After some initial teasing, she tells Edgeworth that they are sisters. [[spoiler:This turns out to be a lie; "Calisto Yew" is an alias, and her real name is never revealed.]]

* In the ''Anime/{{Macross}}'' franchise, there's a United Nations Air Force airman named Edgar [=LaSalle=] who appeared in ''Anime/MacrossZero''. In ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'', a United Nations Spacy officer named Claudia [=LaSalle=] appears in the show. Shoji Kawamori and the production crew have not cleared up any issues about whether the two are related. On the other hand, it's played with Sheryl Nome as the actual descendant of Sarah and Mao Nome. The connection was not seen when ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' aired on television. But a Blu-Ray release corrected this connection [[spoiler:when Sheryl's earrings are seen near a picture frame of Mao's parents.]]

* ''VideoGame/ReturnOfTheObraDinn'' does this twice. The two seamen with the last name "Peters" are brothers, and the first mate is the captain's brother-in-law (because the captain is the first person you can identify, and his wife hyphenated her name, it's fairly simple to identify him, as well).

* In ''The ComicBook/UncannyXMen and ComicBook/TheNewTeenTitans'', one of Marvel & DC's early {{Intercontinuity Crossover}}s, during an EveryoneMeetsEveryone scene Changeling (Gar Logan) wonders if he and Wolverine (who at the time was [[OnlyOneName known only as]] Logan when not using his codename) are related.

** When she was introduced, Kate Kane, ComicBook/{{Batwoman}}, didn't appear to have any connection to the established Kanes in the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' mythos. Her Comicbook/New52 series established that Bette Kane, Flamebird, was her cousin, meaning she was also related to Kathy Kane (whose role as the original Batwoman had recently been reinserted into continuity). In ''ComicBook/BatmanZeroYear'', Bruce's Uncle Philip has portraits of Kate's family in his office, suggesting Martha Kane's maiden name isn't a coincidence either; subsequently she would explicitly call Bruce her cousin in ''Comicbook/DetectiveComicsRebirth''. (Of course, in RealLife, they're all named after Batman creator Bob Kane.)

** Played with in Reboot ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperheroes''. Laurel Gand/Andromeda is a Daxamite who claims descent from the legendary Daxamite hero (and galactic religious icon) [[Comicbook/{{Valor}} Lar Gand/Valor]]. Brainiac 5 points out that "Gand" is a very common surname on Daxam, and she retorts "I know what I know."

* In ''The Uncanny Comicbook/XMen and ComicBook/TheNewTeenTitans'', one of Marvel & DC's early {{Intercontinuity Crossover}}s, during an EveryoneMeetsEveryone scene Changeling (Gar Logan) wonders if he and Wolverine (who at the time was [[OnlyOneName known only as]] Logan when not using his codename) are related.
* ComicBook/{{Colossus}} from ''ComicBook/XMen'', real name Piotr Rasputin. Originally it was just a [[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous stereotypical Russian surname]], but later it was revealed that the most well-known [[UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk Rasputin]] was actually his ancestor.[[note]]In real life, the only (known) surviving descendants of Grigori Rasputin as of 1975 (when Colossus was introduced) lived not in the Soviet Union but in the United States. Those who stayed in Russia had been killed in the wake of the October Revolution. Any ''unknown'' descendants who might have survived would be unlikely to use the Rasputin surname.[[/note]]
* Sam Wilson, ComicBook/TheFalcon, and Jim Wilson from '70s ''Comicbook/{{The Incredible Hulk|1968}}'', began as a coincidence but were eventually [[{{Revision}} retconned]] into uncle and nephew. However, [[ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} Wade Winston Wilson]] - if that is in fact his real name - is apparently no relation.

** Black Lightning's ex-wife, Lynn Stewart-Pierce, is apparently the sister of Comicbook/GreenLantern John Stewart. This is not the case in the comics, where [[https://www.player.one/black-lightning-lynn-stewart-green-lantern-sister-spoilers-123418 her creator toyed around with the possibility of making them related]], but it never wound up happening.)